What We Believe

The Scriptures

The Bible is what God says is true about Himself, man and salvation through Jesus Christ. It is both infallible and without error in its original writings.

God

There is one and only one living and true God. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being. God the Father reigns over and cares for His universe, His creatures, and all of human history. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God the Son, Jesus Christ, was sent by God the Father. He lived the perfect life that we were supposed to live and died the death that we deserved, willingly taking our place. God the Spirit convinces, convicts, calls, changes and completes.

Man

We’re created by God, in His image, but have rebelled against Him. We’re all in need of forgiveness and restoration.

Salvation

Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. It’s not earned through good works, morality, religious affiliation or family background. True salvation is evidenced by a changed life and attitude toward sin and God.

God’s Purpose of Grace

God saves, keeps and forgives us by His divine grace. In turn, Christians are to love, forgive, restore, serve and worship with others.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is a symbolic act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in Jesus’ ability to conquer sin and death. The Lord’s Supper (what others call Communion) is a another such symbolic act, whereby members of the church memorialize the death of the Jesus and anticipate His second coming.

The Church

We think the church should be an autonomous local congregation of believers in Jesus Christ and associated with each other by shared beliefs, purposes and practices laid out in the Bible. The Bible also speaks of the church as the “Body of Christ,” including believers from every generation, tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

The Lord’s Day

The first day of the week, Sunday, is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance of the resurrection of Christ from the dead. We observe it with worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private.

Last Things

God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly to the earth, the dead will be raised, and Christ will judge everyone in the way that only He can. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous will receive their reward and will live forever in Heaven.

Evangelism and Missions

It is the duty and privilege of Christ-follower and of every Christian church to try to make disciples of everyone in the world. Jesus said to preach His message to all nations and to try constantly to win unbelievers by our words, lifestyle and any other method consistent with His teachings.

Stewardship

God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. We are therefore obligated to serve Him with our time, talents, and material possessions – cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and liberally.

Cooperation

Christians and churches ought to cooperate with one another for the benefit of the missionary, educational, and benevolent ministries necessary to advance Christ’s Kingdom. Cooperation is desirable between various Christian denominations when the end to be attained is itself justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word.

The Christian and the Social Order

All Christians ought to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in their own lives and in human society. Christians should oppose racism, injustice, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death.

The Family

God made the family the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image and the marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through the example of a consistent lifestyle and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.